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Sunday, September 11, 2011

I have been making some additions to the fruitful material already in LOTOW and the expansions. Having purchased a big ol' pack of Mountain Men from Foundry not long ago (seems most've been discontinued?) I thought I'd have a crack at making some rules to go along with them. Using LOTOW as a base, I have a few ideas that I want to share and, with some input from the community, grow them into something I can put out as a complete document.

So, here is what I've got so far... please note that most of this requires a lot more work. All feedback would be really appreciated.

These rules are only really applicable in the Huntin' Scenario. This can be played with two or more players, or even solo. You may need to have several Mountain Men prepared to make a hunting party, but I would like to make it possible to play with just one character.

At the beginning of the game, a nominated player must roll a scatter/directional dice for wind direction. This doesn't have much of an effect until later in the gae (you will see later on). This arrow is the predominant wind direction for the rest of the game, but can change.

Weather types are also generated at the beginning of the game, comprising: clear day, light rain, heavy rain, snow. It can be day time or night time.

On each player's turn - but after rolling for priority - a D6 is rolled. If a 1 is rolled, player must consult the following table for the outcome:
- Caught in a bear trap (ouch!)
- Ambush 1: D6 bullets/arrows come flying out of the trees.
- Ambush 2: D6 opponents appear (indians or unfriendly trappers)
- Change in the weather
- Change in the wind
- Disorientation (player misses a turn)

A major part of setting up the Huntin' scenario is the placing of "track" counters on the gaming table. These are small objective counters representing paw/hoof prints, snapped twigs, poop, or perhaps the remains of last night's dinner guest. The main objective for the hunters is to "capture" these counters and accumulate points.

Once collected, the player rolls a D6: on a 1, the hunter loses the track and must begin again; on a 2-5 the hunter collects a point and moves on; on a 6, the hunter is ambushed by a beast (probably a bear or something nasty).

Once these points reach a designated goal (5, f'rinstance) the tracked beast is spawned in a random direction. If the line drawn by the direction of the wind cross the path of the hunter and the beast, the beast is aware of the hunter and may dash off (if it is a deer or something) or gain a charge action and attack the hunters.

I am working on a set of Huntin' Skills for players to develop their hunters in a campaign.

I've also put together some simple stats for a Grizzly Bear (basically a watered-down cave troll):